


Wires

by GatitoAtigrado (orphan_account)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - School, Braces, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Present Tense, Teenagers, chubby!Antonio, inspired by doodle-booty's blog, warning for Lovino's excessive swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 06:26:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5323916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/GatitoAtigrado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lovino has just gotten braces and he's sure it's karma's way to get back at him for burning the flower crown Feli was given by the potato bastard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wires

**Author's Note:**

> This one-shot was inspired by buttcatcher's awesome blog (doodle-booty on tumblr), go follow her if you aren't yet. :)

 

 

8th grade

“Fratello, fratello! Do you think Ludwig will like my braces? Look, they are in the colours of the Italian flag, isn’t that cool?”

Lovino doesn’t regard that with an answer, instead he stubbornly keeps glaring through the window of the car as their Grandpa drives them to school. The last week has been living hell for him, what with getting braces and shit only a few days before the end of the winter holiday.

And of course he had to get them right when things were going so well with Antonio… Stupid karma. Why does it have to take away even this tomato loving idiot who somehow manages to put up with his attitude? They were so damn close... Quite frankly, they would have reached the breaking point and got together soon if it wasn’t for the stupid braces. But now with a ton of steel in his mouth Antonio will surely find him disgusting. Moreover, he might be so repulsed that they will have to stop interacting altogether.

Lovino has already mourned over the loss of his chances with Antonio, but he is still particularly grumpy for remaining one of the only people without a girl or boyfriend in his class. Well, most of those relationships don’t mean anything, but he can’t help feeling unwanted when even the giant German rock has managed to find somebody, be it Lovino’s airhead of a brother or not.

The biggest problem is that he actually likes Antonio. He has been infatuated with the Spaniard for almost two pathetic years by now and still didn’t do a thing about it. Yes, Antonio is a bit chubby and sometimes they tease him about it, but he has a bloody brilliant smile and Lovino would always prefer that over the big muscle mass his brother never fails to drool over.

“We are here, fratello!” Feliciano squeals as soon as the car stops.

“Damnit Feli, can’t you speak with the volume of a normal person?” Lovino fumes, earning himself a pointed look from their Grandpa before he says goodbye and races down the street with the four-seated Ferrari.

They get a couple of hellos and waves from the other kids when they enter the school building, but neither of them has time to think twice about it, because Feliciano spots a blonde head in the crowd and instantly goes haywire with excitement.

“ _Ve, ve, ve,_ Luddy!” He exclaims, running up to the walking brick wall that he calls his boyfriend. “I missed you, how are you, did you have a nice holiday, _ve_ , look, I’ve got braces, do you like the colour, they still hurt a little bit, but it’s okay…”

The macho potato pats Feliciano’s head, makes an attempt at smiling - with ridiculous results in Lovino’s opinion - and even kisses Feliciano, like it’s all okay to get Lovino’s blood pressure soaring. He growls in frustration and imagines throwing tomatoes at the German as Ludwig turns around and gives him a curt nod.

“Nice to see you, Lovino.”

“Screw you, potato head.” Lovino mutters, careful to open his mouth as little as possible to keep the wires hidden.

“Ah Lovino, _mon cher_.” The sickeningly lilting voice makes the hair on the back of Lovino’s neck stand up before the annoying leer of his cousin occupies his sight. “I missed your charming personality during the past weeks.”

Well, shit. If the pervert is here, then…

“Loviiii~!”

A body slams into his with an enthusiasm that almost knocks him over and in his haste to steady himself, Lovino drops his schoolbag and grabs onto the only solid thing his hands find – namely Ludwig.

“Get the fuck off me, Antonio!” He screams, jerking away from potato bastard No.1, just to get caught by the third idiot whose one and only purpose in life is to make Lovino erupt like a volcano that’s spitting swear words instead of lava.

“ _Kesesese_ ” Snickers the bastard that’s currently blocking Lovino’s escape route. Great. The whole group has arrived, just so fucking great.

When Antonio finally lets him go, Lovino sneers and the trio immediately freezes. It takes a minute, but as realisation hits, the smug satisfaction for shutting them up vanishes and Lovino curses fate for giving him no self-control whatsoever.

“Oh _que_ _lindo_! Lovi, when did you get braces?” Antonio grins and pulls on Lovino’s cheeks, trying to get a look at the damn wires and the little colourful bands around the brackets.

Lovino struggles in his hold, shooting death glares to Francis and Gilbert who are cackling so hard that they can barely hold themselves up. Yes, just as he imagined. All of them are laughing at him while Feliciano gets all lovey-dovey with his oversized cuboid. He feels tears pricking at his eyes when Antonio starts a long-winded speech about how much Lovino’s face resembles a certain fruit and the others are practically howling from laughter. Antonio must be mocking him, and it hurts a thousand times more than the prodding fingers that accidentally bump against his still sore teeth.

“Leave me alone, you jerks!” Lovino cries out and runs away, through the people and straight to the nearest restroom, locking himself in a stall.

He's more than ready to cry, to explode, to let it all go and collapse in exasperation. What he doesn’t expect is being interrupted in his self-pity session by a very concerned voice that calls out for him.

“Lovi, _querido_ , are you here?”

Of course. Who else would it have been? The damn Spaniard has come after him to keep on joking, maybe he brought his friends too, waiting for the next opportunity to get a good laugh. _Fuck them all._

“Go back to your stupid friends to laugh at my teeth, I don’t give a shit, just don’t fucking pretend later that you care.”

“I never pretend that! I really care and I love your smile, _mi tomate_.”

The voice draws closer until it comes right from the other side of the door, and Lovino leans his forehead against the barrier, trying to clear the image of a distressed Antonio from his head.

“That’s so stupid. My smile looks awful.” He mutters, not believing the words that always sound so fake when they are directed at him.

“But Lovi, you have the nicest smile I have ever seen. You should show it more often.”

“Stop making fun of me, you fat bastard!”

Lovino snaps, then immediately blanches. He already regrets what he said and prepares himself to apologise when he realises that Antonio is alarmingly silent and the breathing on the other side of the door sped up. “Antonio?”

He gets no reply, only a quiet whimper and the sound of footsteps rushing out of the washroom. A quick set of curses and a few seconds later Lovino is running after Antonio, following the echo of bawling until he finds him slumped in the darker end of an empty corridor next to the vending machine, hugging his knees tightly. His shoulders are shaking from his sobs and it’s fortunate that his face can’t be seen, because otherwise Lovino would start crying too.

Pausing only for a second, Lovino gulps and walks over to him, sits close enough to offer some comfort if Antonio wants it.

“I don’t really think you are fat.” He mumbles and puts a hand on Antonio’s shoulder. “I just wanted you to leave me alone.”

“But you were right. I’m fat and _ugly._ I just wish they would stop rubbing that in my face.” Antonio cries and scoots away from Lovino’s touch. “I didn’t want to force myself on you, I just like you so much and I couldn’t help it…”

“No, Antonio, you did nothing wrong…” Lovino says softly, reaching out again to stroke Antonio’s back. “It was my fault, I’m so sorry.”

Antonio breaks out in another set of sobs and lets Lovino embrace him. Lovino whispers soothing words and countless apologies, trying to stop the vehement shaking of Antonio’s body and feeling guiltier than ever for making this living ray of sunshine miserable with his careless words. They rock back and forth until Antonio calms down. It takes a while and they miss the first period – not that Lovino cared – but the weeping eventually stops and Antonio’s body goes slack in Lovino’s arms.

“When I’m upset I always stuff myself full with chocolate. Do you want some?” Lovino asks carefully, letting Antonio pull back.

But Antonio just curls in on himself again, shakes his head and lets out a pathetic little hiccup. Lovino sighs and scrambles up from the ground. Hopefully that couple of coins in his pocket will be enough… He throws them in the vending machine, one by one, painfully aware of Antonio’s sniffles and ragged breathing. After what feels like an eternity, Lovino gets the package and plops back down on the floor, carefully opening his purchase.

“Here, have a gummy bear.” He says, trying and failing to sound cheerful and encouraging as he holds out a handful of them.

Antonio hesitates, raising his eyes to meet Lovino’s. “Lovi, you shouldn’t eat -”

“I know, _idiota_ , but whatever.” He shrugs, throwing a few into his mouth. There are so many things Lovino shouldn’t eat while his teeth can practically pick up radio waves from all the metal - fuck, he can’t even have a bubble gum - and he’s sick of it already. “You can have the red ones if you don’t tell Grandpa. And Feli.”

Antonio’s face brightens a bit and the corners of his mouth start curving up. “Really?”

Lovino nods, pursing his lips and trying hard to hide his relief when Antonio’s smile is back to usual and the bears are snatched from his hands.

“That’s so sweet of you! I promise I won’t tell anyone. Our secret.” Antonio grins, winking in a way that’s surely meant to be flirtatious, but ends up ruined, because he has to concentrate real hard to close only one of his eyes.

They are chewing for a couple minutes in comfortable silence then Lovino gets up to throw away the empty package. His stomach flips when he turns back from the bin and sees Antonio standing as well, eyes still puffy from crying, but gleaming with something akin to hope. The tension is suffocating as they stare at each other, both too nervous and inexperienced to actually do the first move, until Lovino gathers his courage and clears his throat to speak up.

“Toni?”

“Hm?”

“Do you really l-like me?”

Antonio’s smile turns shy and he blushes, clasping his hands behind his back.

“Yes, I do.” He replies eventually, biting his lower lip.

Lovino’s face heats up as he takes a step forward, bunching the hem of his sweater in his fists.

“I like you too.” He says, averting his eyes when Antonio’s widen comically. “Even though you are a bastard.”

Antonio laughs and steps closer too, hesitantly reaching for one of Lovino’s hands. He doesn’t dare touch it though, so he just laughs again – awkwardly this time – and lets his arm fall back to hang by his side. Lovino scowls and grabs it, twining his fingers with Antonio’s shaking ones. The warmth instantly spreads from their hands and it feels so nice that Lovino doesn’t even mind that Antonio’s palm is sweaty and he’s squeezing a little too hard. When he looks up to meet Antonio’s gaze, the Spaniard smiles and fidgets some, then closes his eyes and puckers his lips, leaning in to –

“Ch-chigii!” Lovino squeaks, heart racing. “What the hell are you doing?”

Antonio opens his eyes, looking rather confused. “Aren’t we supposed to kiss now?”

“K-kiss?” Lovino stutters, too flustered to form a complete sentence.

“Like in the movies! Don’t you think so?”

“O-Okay, I guess…” No big deal. Just a first kiss. Just a little peck, right? _Right?_

Antonio beams and swings Lovino’s hand, then closes his eyes again. Lovino glances around for spying bastards hiding around the corner, but finding none, he takes a deep breath, shuts his eyes and presses his lips to Antonio’s. To Antonio’s _chin,_ to be precise, because of fucking course he misses at first, but he quickly corrects it and… and then they are kissing. Antonio’s lips are still sticky from the gummy bears and Lovino doesn’t know whether to open his mouth or not, but otherwise it’s perfect. Incredible, dizzying, wonderful –

“Ow” Antonio pulls away, raising a hand to his mouth. “You bit me.”

Lovino flushes furiously, ready to curse up a shitstorm in Italian, because even his instincts are prone to fuck up every good thing in his life, _damnit_ , but then Antonio laughs and hugs him close.

“But kissing felt so good! Can we repeat that? You can even bite me again if you really want to.”

“ _Idiota._ ” Lovino mumbles, but his smile betrays his harsh word.

And if he hugs back Antonio a little tighter than necessary – well, that’s none of anyone’s business.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

7 years later

“Loviii” Comes the whining voice from the bedroom for the umpteenth time that evening. “You never said this hurts so much!”

Lovino just shakes his head, reaching for another dirty plate. In all honesty, he is fed up with Antonio’s complaints about the braces he has just got, they are absolutely uncalled for. What did his boyfriend think, that getting his teeth pulled together by metal wires will be a piece of cake? Lovino snorts, thinking back to all those times in high school when he told Antonio that he should get the gap between his front teeth corrected. If the idiot had listened to Lovino, everything would be fine by now and Lovino wouldn’t have to deal with all the bitching and survive months without the heavenly feel of Antonio’s lips around… _No._

With an instinctive scowl, Lovino forces his thoughts to stay away from that particular path and he concentrates on washing the remains of the tomato soup from the dishes they used. Speaking of which, Antonio should be fucking grateful that Lovino catered to all of his wishes and even made his favourite meal just because of those stupid braces.

The raining outside has started to pick up a while ago and it's steadily turning into a typical summer storm with the occasional roaring thunder. Suddenly a flash of lightning lights up the apartment and Lovino flinches from the noises, furrowing his brow when a moment later there are muffled footsteps padding hurriedly through the flat. He barely has a second to realise what's coming before a body slams into his from behind – he should be prepared for this after all those years, but the force still catches him off-guard and he almost breaks the plate by dropping it into the sink.

“What the fuck, Antonio?”

“I’m scared!”

Lovino groans, tired and way too irritated to keep away the warning edge from his voice. “We are not standing in the middle of a fucking meadow, you are safe.”

“But… Metal attracts lightning.”

Oh, not again this shit. “Damnit, I told you, braces do not increase your chance of getting struck.”

Antonio just keeps whimpering against the back of Lovino’s neck, arms tightening desperately around Lovino's waist, until the Italian sighs and turns off the tap, quickly drying his hands with a nearby cloth.

“Fine, you big child.” He says with barely veiled fondness as he takes Antonio’s hand and leads their way to the bedroom.

They hop onto the bed unceremoniously, pulling the tomato pattern blanket up to the tip of their noses. Antonio immediately rolls over, cuddling close and ignoring Lovino's annoyed little huff and the quiet complaint that it's already too hot.

“I love you.” He whispers and kisses the underside of Lovino's jaw, making him shiver.

“Shut up. Go to sleep.” Lovino grumbles, though he turns his head until his lips are against Antonio's forehead.

“I love you, I love you, I…”

Lovino rolls his eyes then kisses Antonio hard, swallowing his words and trailing a hand down to grab his butt.

“Fatass.” He says once they have parted, smirking at the mock-hurt on his boyfriend's face.

Even though Antonio’s body changed considerably over the years and he turned out to be rather on the lean side, that one part of him remained all the same, round and perfectly fitting into Lovino’s grasp. And however vehemently he denies it outside the bedroom, they both know that Lovino just _loves_ it.

“It’s all muscle, _mi amor_.”

Antonio replies, tangling his legs with Lovino's under the covers. It's quiet for a while, with only the distant sound of the storm breaking the serenity, until Lovino realises that his boyfriend has fallen asleep and started drooling on his chest. He smiles and pulls Antonio closer, murmuring softly against his tanned skin. 

“I love you too.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you had some fun. :)


End file.
